Webix keeps gathering feedback from our devoted customers. Today we are talking to Rainer Ross (LinkedIn profile). Rainer is an experienced developer from Germany currently working on the creation of the fastest applications on the market. We are happy to know his opinion on our product.
Hello Rainer! Tell us, please, about your company and current projects.
Hi! I’m a one-man company, it is called Rainer Ross IT-Consulting. I started in 2013 when I wanted to build the fastest hotel search engine in the world. It was my first project, very new and exciting. In 2015, I received an IBM Innovation Award for this project, this was the beginning of my company.
Before starting my own business, I was the head of IT in a production company for 20 years. I have had programming experience for 30 years. Now I’m also a technical writer for a German IT magazine. I wrote an article based on Webix “Build your first web app in 30 seconds”. Some weeks later, my first customer called and said he had read the article and wanted to make a project together. This became my first Webix project in 2016. It was a small project on just 5 screens, but it made me more experienced with Webix. It was 5 years ago, and this year, I got 4 new customers with Webix.
I also offer workshops based on Webix for web development. There, I provide examples of the apps built with Webix and you find a snippet on Github.
My customers use an IBM i web server, which is one of the fastest servers on the market for me.
That’s very interesting. What kind of apps do you build with Webix?
My customers are very different. One of them was a soft ice machine producer. I made an application for technical maintenance of soft ice machines. Then, there was a return management app for a webshop and some others.
Which criteria are the most important for you in a JS library?
It’s performance. It is important to build fast applications for customer experience. Currently, I have a customer in London, he showed me an application built with some other framework, and the performance was slower. When I showed them what Webix can do with online workshops, they were convinced of the speed of it. Development speed is another important criterion.
Five years ago, I didn’t use proto UIs. When I tried it, I saw progress in the development speed. You can look at the prototype and see how they work. It is important for the development process and it makes the development speed higher.
How did you learn about Webix?
While self-studying.
Which Webix widgets do you use?
For 5-6 years already I have used Webix’s professional version. It is mostly enough for the projects. Webix Gantt is really nice, Kanban is good too.
Do you use other libraries apart from Webix?
No, I think Webix is enough for me and my customers.
What would you like to improve in Webix?
I have thought about it for the last few days, but I haven’t found anything. Webix is perfect for me. Five years ago I needed JS Scheduler, but it was not included in the Webix library. Now you offer a very nice solution.
Webix developers are very few in Germany. So, I think it would be nice to form the Webix community here in Germany. Webix is always in the top 10 popular development frameworks, however, not so many people work with it. Probably, more articles about Webix would be helpful.
What are the sites and blogs that you read about IT development?
I read some news online. The Webix blog is a very good source of information and the Webix forum also. When I use the forum for a question, it takes 1-2 days and I have the solution.
How likely are you to recommend Webix to your colleagues?
I will recommend it because it is cheap, which is the main point for my customers. Other frameworks are much more expensive. Besides, huge frameworks don’t provide any support. Technical support is essential for development. Community is ok, but not enough for me.
Thank you, Rainer, for this talk! We wish you success with your projects and Webix won’t let you down!
We appreciate the feedback of our customers. If you feel you have something to tell us, please, do not hesitate to contact us.
